Life as a parrot …

By the time the young woman was done talking, I was tempted to offer her a cracker. Beneath the outer facade, she must have been a parrot!

That’s because after talking nearly non-stop for an hour or so, there was very little she had said that came from herself. Much of what she had to say was something she had heard others say, and she did a fine job of repeating all the common “Christian” phrases and platitudes commonly heard. Yet it was obvious that with the slightest challenge to her statements, she would not be able to explain or defend much of what she had said.

She was living the life of a parrot.

One of the biggest problems the church faces today is that many Christians live their lives based on what they think the Bible says, rather than what it actually says. Instead of studying the Bible and learning it themselves, they rely on what pastors, elders, Sunday school teachers or small group leaders tell them. They listen to well-known Christian speakers and adopt what they say for what they believe. Then they repeat what they’ve been told without a personal understanding of the content, they just know it sounds good and came from a leader, so it should be true.

Many leaders make the same mistake. They listen to their favorite speakers and “parrot” what they hear and read. Much of what comes from leaders today originated from some other leader who actually did the work of studying, learning, and developing an understanding which they then share with others who parrot their work.

The result is parrots being led by parrots.

The problem with that is there’s no understanding or wisdom that comes from being a parrot. You might have a stock answer for many situations, but not a core of knowledge and personal understanding from which you have developed values you’re committed to. When put to the test, you can’t explain what you thought you believe because there’s no roots to your statements, only the words of someone else you’ve listened to.

In order to avoid being a parrot, you have to “own” your own knowledge. You have to do the study that develops a personal, internal understanding from a knowledge base which you can use to assess the world around you and make wise decisions. Otherwise, you will overly rely on what others tell you or what you hear as your source for knowledge and values.

Have you built your beliefs and values from personal study that has created a knowledge base from which you draw on for understanding? Or are you basing life largely on what you have been told by others? Could you explain what you believe, and why you believe it?

Scotty